Healthy muscles are strong and flexible. So anytime you have some minor pain, stretching is a good place to start. If you are having low back pain here are my top four stretches to help relieve low back pain due to tight muscles.
Everybody's back pain, even with tight muscles is going to be a little bit different, but typically these four (4) stretches will help reduce your back pain:
Hamstring Stretch
A lot of times our hamstrings are a huge generator of pain. They are one of the largest muscles and they aid in everything from standing and walking, to sitting and squatting.
Even though they are large muscles, our Hamstrings can become unhealthy if they are not stretched and strengthened properly.
One of the major issues with your hamstrings, is that when they are unhealthy, they force us to tuck our buttocks underneath us and prevent us from having the right alignment of our pelvis. This leads our pelvis to being more tucked under, when we really need to be more upright on our pelvis.
The tucking of your pelvis pulls on your low back, which is why this stretch is such a good one when you are having low back pain.
Steps for the Hamstring Stretch:
1. Lie flat on your back. Use a mat or carpet if you are able to do so.
2. Keep your spine straight and your bottom on the ground.
3. Place a yoga strap around your foot.
4. Keep one leg flat on the ground, lift your other leg straight up trying to get your leg to 90 degrees.
If you are really tight you may not be able to lift your leg straight up. That is okay, just keep your knee from bending so that you feel the stretch on the backside of your leg.
It is also ok to bend the leg on the ground until the foot can be comfortably flat and support the leg on the ground.
5. Hold for 30 Seconds to 2 Minutes.
Make sure you switch legs. If you do not feel much of a stretch, you may need to lift your leg higher. If you are already straight above your body, you can also cross your leg over your body and out at your sides to get more of a stretch throughout the different sections of your hamstrings.
In addition to the stretch you get while lying on your back, by lying down you relieve the pressure of gravity, which can compress the space between your vertebrae.
Piriformis Stretch
Your Piriformis is the muscle of your hip rotator. Sitting, walking, and running all place a different level of stress on your Piriformis muscles. Because of their close direct connection with low back, when one or both Piriformis muscles is not as healthy as it should be, you risk severe low back pain.
This Piriformis stretch is sometimes called a Seated Figure-4 because of the patern it makes while you are sitting.
Steps for the Seated Figure-4, Piriformis Stretch:
1. Sit upright in your chair. You want to make sure you have a flat back and that all of the movement from your upper body is pivoting from your hips and waist.
2. Place one foot flat on the ground with your knee bent at 90 degrees. If you cannot keep your knee at 90 degrees, try to keep your knee below your hip.
3. Cross your other ankle over the knee of the leg on the ground, this is what should make the figure four out of your legs.
4. You can apply gentle pressure to the elevated knee, but it should not hurt.
5. Hold for 30 Seconds to 2 Minutes.
Just as with the Piriformis stretch, make sure you get similar time on each side so that you are not lengthening one side at the neglect of the other. If you do not feel much of a stretch, you may need to use a mirror to ensure that your back is remaining flat and that you are not bending through your spine. When you do this, you stretch the muscles of your middle back, but can increase the stress and pressure you place on your low back muscles.
Hugging Both Your Knees into Your Chest
The egg roll stretch, or hugging both knees into your chest, helps stretch the muscles of your glutes and low back. While the name is pretty straight forward, you should not actually be rolling while you are doing this stretch. Instead you want to bring your legs up to your chest in a very controlled manner and hug them.
Steps for the Egg Roll:
1. Lie flat on your back. Use a mat or carpet if you are able to do so. You want to keep your spine in alignment, so you can also use a pillow under your neck if you find it helpful to keep your neck elevated. You do not want to tuck your head, this can actually cause you neck pain.
2. Keep your spine straight and your bottom on the ground to the best of your ability.
3. Bring both of your legs up to your chest so that you are bent at the knees and bent at the hips.
4. Place your arms across and over your knees. If placing your hands over your knees is too difficult, you can place your hands behind your knees on your thighs, or put a belt of strap behind your knees and pull up. You should not get to a point that your legs hurt your chest if you feel like it is difficult to breathe, but you can apply some steady even pressure if the stretch is not as deep as you would like.
5. Hold for 30 Seconds to 2 Minutes.
Hugging One Knee into Your Chest
The can opener stretch, or hugging one knee into your chest, also helps stretch the muscles of your glutes and low back. Often times people feel a deeper, although single sided stretch in comparison to the egg roll.
This stretch is much like the egg roll and the hamstring stretch combined. One leg will stay straight on the floor, while the other one is bent to your chest. If keeping one leg straight on the ground is too difficult, bend the leg on ground, until you feel comfortable. With bending one leg on the gound, you will likely need to bend it to the point that your foot can comfortably rest flat on the ground and support that leg. Because you are doing only a single leg at a time, make sure you switch sides at the conclusion of the first leg being stretched.
Helpful Tips
All of these help quite a bit, if you are having pain in your back, but especially if it's tight muscles in your low back or in the buttocks. You want to hold all stretches for at least 30 seconds but up to two minutes. The best stretch is always going to be low-load but prolonged.
Do not try to bounce while you stretch, while this was once considered best practice, it has been shown to be neutral at best, but can cause muscle strain and increase your fatigue and injury.
Do not pull until you are in pain. If you are in too much pain, the stretch is not helping you get out of pain. A good stretch is not going to be sensation free, but it should feel comfortable and not like you are further injuring yourself. It is likely to have a little burning sensation that goes away when you stop the active stretch.
-FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers of Oklahoma City
FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers of Oklahoma City provides orthopedic physical therapy in Lakeside, The Village, Nichols Hills and surrounding NW Oklahoma City. Our physical therapists are specially trained to treat all types of pain, movement disorders, and musculoskeletal dysfunction including Low Back Pain. Our practitioners take a patient-centered individualized approach that focuses on your Neck Pain Relief. If you are unsure about the cause of your Low Back Pain, or you want to see the FYZICAL Difference for yourself, schedule a free consultation today.